{"id":125292,"date":"2018-11-01T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T18:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=125292"},"modified":"2023-11-17T08:45:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T16:45:02","slug":"gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten","title":{"rendered":"In the Pursuit of Justice and Closure, Twenty Years Later"},"author":3302,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[211,1051],"tags":[136212,136222,1691,136232],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478532],"esri_blog_department":[478242],"class_list":["post-125292","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-safety","category-real-time-gis","tag-cold-case","tag-crime-investigation","tag-situational-awareness","tag-wide-area-search","esri-blog-category-analytics","esri_blog_department-public-safety"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"Investigators used real-time GIS to search a 300-acre property, coordinating the efforts of personnel from more than 20 agencies.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<em>Part 1 of 3\u2014Alabama Cold Case Crime Investigation<\/em>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Key Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Law enforcement uses GIS to manage a large-scale multi-agency investigation<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A system approach ensures coordinated efforts<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Investigators stay on the same page using a shared framework and tools<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Twenty years later and Traci Pittman Kegley's whereabouts, and the cause of her disappearance, remain a mystery.\r\n\r\nBut when a new lead came in, investigators decided to conduct a large-scale coordinated search across a more than 300-acre property in rural Alabama with the hopes of finding the remains of a young mother who went missing on April 26, 1998. This lead prompted a focus on real-time geographic information system (GIS) technology to better support the investigation\u2019s operational requirements.\r\n\r\nOn the day she vanished, Traci's car was found abandoned on the side of Old Georgia Road outside Wetumpka, Ala., with her two-year-old daughter still inside and unharmed.\r\n\r\nNo witnesses ever came forward about the events that led to the young mother\u2019s white Geo Storm being abandoned across from T&amp;H Grocery with her child unattended. Traci\u2019s personal belongings, including a purse and identification, remained behind.\r\n\r\nThe family and authorities assume foul play because she wouldn\u2019t have left her daughter that way. Adding to this fear, witnesses reported an argument between the victim and unidentified persons at a gas station the afternoon prior to the car\u2019s discovery, but no definitive clues ever surfaced.\r\n\r\nIn the hope of resolving the 20-year-old disappearance, crime investigators applied the real-time tracking capabilities of GIS to comprehensively search a 300-acre property."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":125592,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Relentless Follow Up<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhen the new lead came in, law enforcement officers believed it was credible. They spent months planning to canvass an identified property and potential crime scene and relied on an unprecedented level of real-time mapping technology to orchestrate the efforts of personnel from more than 20 agencies. Many of the officers involved in the search were around at the time of the victim\u2019s initial disappearance and remained eager to solve this case for the family and the community.\r\n\r\nThe mother of the missing woman, Linda Pittman, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsfa.com\/story\/37614610\/day-3-high-degree-of-confidence-says-da-in-traci-kegley-search\">spoke to the local television news<\/a> during the search, relaying the wish that everyone who cares about her missing daughter could see the technology being used to find evidence.\r\n\r\nInitially, the size of the property and the time that had passed gave law enforcement some pause. However, the location of the property\u2014near the abandoned car and the gas station where witnesses reported seeing the victim involved in an argument\u2014proved too compelling not to pursue. The law enforcement objective was to find human remains, a key step in proving a crime and finding a culprit.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe last thing we want is for the family to be victimized twice,\u201d said Capt. Joe Herman of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), the search commander on the case. \u201cSo, by not doing something that we should be doing, or by forgetting it and not doing anything, then I feel that the family becomes a victim a second time.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":125622,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Gathering Resources<\/strong>\r\n\r\nInvestigators obtained a search warrant issued after a circuit court judge found probable cause that a crime was committed and that items connected to the crime were likely to be found at the property. Next, Capt. Herman presented facts about the case to conferences of the Sheriff\u2019s Association and the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police. These briefings drew interest from local officers and from others across the state.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere is a lot of mutual aid in Alabama,\u201d Capt. Herman said. \u201cSo, if something bad happens, everybody pretty much comes to everybody's aid. But something of this scale has never been done before.\u201d\r\n\r\nInvestigators aspired to assemble more than 200 searchers to canvass this large property and ensure nothing was missed. They also reached out for a variety of other specialized capabilities including cadaver dog\u00a0and\u00a0handler\u00a0teams trained in locating and recovering buried human remains.\r\n\r\nIn further preparation, Capt. Herman called authorities in nearby states to see if anyone had experience with a crime scene of a similar search size. He found that nobody had undertaken anything similar.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur search operations in Alabama are usually on a smaller scale,\u201d said Ty Gober, retired battalion chief with Birmingham Fire &amp; Rescue Service, and the coordinator for the ground search. \u201cNormally we\u2019re looking for Alzheimer\u2019s patients that wander away from home or a lost child at a state park. This case required a gridded search over a large area.\u201d\r\n\r\nNext, Capt. Herman made a call to Alabama\u2019s Fusion Center, a collaborative effort between local law enforcement and multiple federal agencies that provides resources, expertise, and information sharing capabilities with the goal of maximizing the ability to detect, prevent, apprehend, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur initial involvement centered on gathering aerial imagery for when this incident took place and to show change over time,\u201d said Jared Bostic, deputy Geographic Information Officer for the state of Alabama. \u201cThe more we learned about the investigation, and what the case agent was trying to achieve, the more we talked about using the real-time capabilities of GIS to track the search as it unfolded.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":125632,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Following All Leads<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe victim\u2019s friends and family recall an outgoing and friendly young woman. They stand vigil on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Justice-for-Traci-Pittman-Kegley-353031528208510\/\">Facebook page<\/a> that monitors any new details about the case with regular reminders that, \u201csomebody knows something\u201d and \u201cbehind every missing person is a trail of broken hearts.\u201d\r\n\r\nWith the new lead, investigators vowed to conduct a synchronized and thorough search that left nothing unturned on the property.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe try to let the public know we never forget,\u201d said District Attorney Randall V. Houston, who serves Elmore, Autauga and Chilton Counties in Alabama. \u201cAs long as there are leads to follow, we're going to follow them.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/connecting-searchers-cold-case-search\/\">Part two of this story<\/a> details the tools and methods that investigators applied to the search. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/real-time-gis-ensures-property-thoroughly-searched\/\">Part three of this story<\/a> speaks to the outcomes of the search. Learn more about the many ways that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/public-safety\/overview\">GIS supports public safety<\/a>."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[174571,174631,174531,174641,174521,174511,174581,174541,174611]},{"acf_fc_layout":"pdf","file":191102}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crime Investigators Deploy Real-time GIS to Search a Large Property<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the hope of resolving the 20-year-old disappearance of a young mother, crime investigators applied real-time GIS to search a 300-acre property.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In the Pursuit of Justice and Closure, Twenty Years Later\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the hope of resolving the 20-year-old disappearance of a young mother, crime investigators applied real-time GIS to search a 300-acre property.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-17T16:45:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Dirt_Road_826.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Esri\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Crime Investigators Deploy Real-time GIS to Search a Large Property\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2018-11-01T18:00:17+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2023-11-17T16:45:02+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"In the hope of resolving the 20-year-old disappearance of a young mother, crime investigators applied real-time GIS to search a 300-acre property.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"In the Pursuit of Justice and Closure, Twenty Years Later\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Esri\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Esri Newsroom\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/ac26ddb2d16890304e8bb1aa575dc802\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Carl Walter\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Walter_Carl.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Walter_Carl.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Carl Walter\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"description\": \"Carl Walter, Esri\u2019s Director of Homeland Security Solutions, joined Esri in 2010, after 20 years of increasing responsibility in law enforcement and intelligence operations. Shortly after 9\/11, Mr. Walter was appointed Director of the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, a US Department of Homeland Security designated intelligence fusion center. He embraced the new paradigm of intelligence sharing and established a decentralized security node in the Boston metropolitan AoR responsible for meeting regional intelligence needs, while providing real-time information to help understand the national landscape of terrorist threats and criminal activity. On special assignment, Mr. Walter represented the Boston Police as the planning section chief for the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. He also served as the Director, Bureau of Intelligence and Analysis for the Boston Police Department. Currently, he is responsible for directing Esri\u2019s outreach strategies as they relate to the use of analytical solutions within the homeland and national security markets globally. Mr. Walter holds an M.S. in Criminal Justice (Concentration: Management) from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a B.S. in Criminal Justice (Concentration: Law Enforcement) from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/author\/carl_walter\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crime Investigators Deploy Real-time GIS to Search a Large Property","description":"In the hope of resolving the 20-year-old disappearance of a young mother, crime investigators applied real-time GIS to search a 300-acre property.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In the Pursuit of Justice and Closure, Twenty Years Later","og_description":"In the hope of resolving the 20-year-old disappearance of a young mother, crime investigators applied real-time GIS to search a 300-acre property.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten","og_site_name":"Esri","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","article_modified_time":"2023-11-17T16:45:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Dirt_Road_826.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Esri","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten","name":"Crime Investigators Deploy Real-time GIS to Search a Large Property","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-11-01T18:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-17T16:45:02+00:00","description":"In the hope of resolving the 20-year-old disappearance of a young mother, crime investigators applied real-time GIS to search a 300-acre property.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/gone-twenty-years-but-not-forgotten#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In the Pursuit of Justice and Closure, Twenty Years Later"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/","name":"Esri","description":"Esri Newsroom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/ac26ddb2d16890304e8bb1aa575dc802","name":"Carl Walter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Walter_Carl.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Walter_Carl.png","caption":"Carl Walter"},"description":"Carl Walter, Esri\u2019s Director of Homeland Security Solutions, joined Esri in 2010, after 20 years of increasing responsibility in law enforcement and intelligence operations. Shortly after 9\/11, Mr. Walter was appointed Director of the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, a US Department of Homeland Security designated intelligence fusion center. He embraced the new paradigm of intelligence sharing and established a decentralized security node in the Boston metropolitan AoR responsible for meeting regional intelligence needs, while providing real-time information to help understand the national landscape of terrorist threats and criminal activity. On special assignment, Mr. Walter represented the Boston Police as the planning section chief for the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. He also served as the Director, Bureau of Intelligence and Analysis for the Boston Police Department. Currently, he is responsible for directing Esri\u2019s outreach strategies as they relate to the use of analytical solutions within the homeland and national security markets globally. Mr. Walter holds an M.S. in Criminal Justice (Concentration: Management) from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a B.S. in Criminal Justice (Concentration: Law Enforcement) from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/author\/carl_walter"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/125292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/125292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125292"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=125292"},{"taxonomy":"esri-blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/esri-blog-category?post=125292"},{"taxonomy":"esri_blog_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/esri_blog_department?post=125292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}